At lunchtime on Thursday, November 16th, around 50 citizens from the Boston area gathered in front of the Israeli consulate at 20 Park Plaza. The community member were assembled to demand that the Israeli government immediately stop the killing of Palestinian civilians in the West bank and Gaza Strip.

At the rally demonstrators took turns reading aloud the names of 85 Palestinians killed in Gaza by Israel military strikes in the past two weeks alone. The list was fallowed by a moment of somber silence in honor of the fallen.

Jewish, Arab and Other Community Members Protest Israeli Assult on Gaza

On November 8th 2006, the Israeli military, referred to as the Israeli Defense Force (IDF), shelled homes in the town of Beit Hanoun, killing 18 civilians, mostly women and children. 14 were members of the same sleeping family.

One protester held a large cardboard tank sporting an Israeli flag and a label reading “Made in the USA”. His message was in reference to the to the fact that United States tax dollar provide much of the military equipment to the IDF.

Among the participants were representatives from a number of local organization including; Grassroots international, Jewish Voices for Peace-Boston, UMASS Solidarity Club, Jewish Women for Justice in Israel/Palestine, American-Arab Anti-discrimination Committee (MA chapter) and Boston to Palestine.

A statement from the coalition reads, in part, “Israeli officials are not welcome in our city as long as the Israeli government and army murder Palestinians indiscriminately, hold Gaza under siege, build the Apartheid wall, ignore UN resolutions and international law and deny basic human rights to the Palestinian people.”